When obtaining wort in the beer brewing or beverage industry, in particular during the conventional lautering process, such as e.g. in a lauter tun, after introducing mash into the separating device and for the most part observing a lauter rest, a filter layer consisting of material originating from the mash, namely husks or other spent grain components, are formed on the false bottom or on the filter cloth. Thereafter, a wort which initially is turbid and which typically is repeatedly recirculated and then applied to the filter layer until the desired clarification of the wort, i.e. a sufficient decrease in solids and turbidity causing substances, is achieved. Then, the so-called first wort is distilled. Therefore, it is conventionally the case that the separation of the mash into the first wort and spent grains and the clarification of the wort obtained take place in the same device and predominantly at the same time. After the wort has been absorbed into the filter cake (spent grains layer), hot water is added to the surface of the filter cake to wash out the spent grains layer. As a result, a further extract in the form of a diluted wort, the so-called post-run worts, is obtained.
To date, for many technological reasons there has been a desire to obtain worts with a higher level of clarity. For instance, experts within the German brewing industry hold the view that with regard to beer quality, turbid lauter worts should not be obtained. In contrast, the highest possible level of clarity of the wort during lautering is considered to be a prerequisite for achieving impeccable beer quality, in particular in relation to taste quality, taste stability, physical stability and/or froth stability.
A disadvantage in the conventional procedure of obtaining wort is that the method step of lautering for at least 90 min per brew batch, often 120 min per brew batch or even longer, required a long period of time. In the meantime, the procedure of obtaining wort thus constitutes, in relation to the method steps performed in the brewhouse, the time-limiting method step. For a long time there has been a desire to considerably reduce the method step of obtaining and clarifying wort or even to perform it as a continuous method step. In practice, it has hitherto been impossible to reduce the lautering duration to periods substantially less than the aforementioned, hitherto achieved periods in spite of decades of further development and optimisation of the existing lautering systems.
It has hitherto also been impossible to provide a method for obtaining wort continuously which is suitable in practice.